In addition, I don't like the way it was posted... "a Chicago man who was lucky enough to purchase an Xbox 360"... OH PLEASE!!!! "lucky enough" You make out to be some amazing thing... It's JUST a GAME BOX!!! Hello!!!
Tell that to the Apple fanatics. Those people see nothing wrong with spending half their lives wiating in line for each new plastic gadget that Apple makes every few months. "Sure I waited in line for 2 hours! It was OS X version 1.2.5.5! It's MUCH better than 1.2.5.4, and it ONLY cost me $200!"
Re:Visual Basic is pretty good...
on
Build a Program Now
·
· Score: 2, Funny
please, please don't let your friends "program" with Visual Basic. Please?
You're talking about something completely different than what this book is about. There are plenty of useful programs in which "maintain, debug, update, install, document, and deploy the application." are all irrelevant. I needed a program to help one of my managers figure out fractional hours on timesheets. I fired up VB and wrote one in less than 5 minutes that let me manager put in hours in lots of different formats, press a button, and it would display the answer. I didn't want or need something that required debugging, maintenance, updates, or even an installation. That's what this book is about. And for what it does, there's little (other than maybe Filemaker Pro) for doing things like that than VB6.
This is a book not about programming, but about getting things done quickly. VB is by far and away, the best programming language/tool I've ever seen to do this. It's simply not necessary to learn the ins and outs of trees, arrays, pointers, etc. if you need a quick and dirty program to get something done. Kinda' like you don't need to know the ins and outs of a modern combustion engine if you just want to change your oil. Personally, I can't count the number of times that I needed to get something done quickly and easily and VB has filled that need.
What the management does is irrelevant. The owners of the companies still get screwed when a company goes under. Corporate owners generally are not protected at all. Did you get compensated for any of the dot-bomb stocks you bought? I don't know anybody that did. At least with a personal bankruptcy, you still have a house, and a means to work.
It's science. Geology, and volcanology are sciences that have existed for centuries before the first circuit board was ever printed. Believe it or not, there are "Nerds" that are quite interested in these topics. Personally, I'm a botany/genetics geek, myself. Computers are boring, in my opinion.
The new rockface, which most likely will fall again, is already being build up by the vulcano.
This should read:
The new rock face, which most likely will fall again, is already being built up by the volcano.
Have the Slashdot editors been replaced with ESL monkeys?
Or perhaps, are there no open source apps with spelling and grammar checking?
Or perhaps, do they just not care because idiots like me will probably continue coming here out of habit, regardless of how bad the writing and editing is?
At this point in time, I agree. It's 100% impossible. There is NO WAY that a working laptop computer can be produced for under $100. I don't understand why Slashdotters, who probably spend more time shopping for computers than most people, dont' see this. If a $100 laptop was possible, some bottom feeder like Wal-Mart would already be selling it. As is, we have people beating each other up in big box stores all across the nation to get a $400 loss leader laptop. The $100 laptop is complete and total bullshit.
All that being said, let me announce that I will be giving out $5 laptops to the millions of starving children in the world. This $5 laptop will have a 19" screen, a 120 GB SATA hard drive, wireless connectivity, a full keyboard (available in any language) and be durable enough to be able to be run over with a tank, or dropped into mud.
1. A Business' sole goal is to maximize profit for its shareholders, and nothing else.
Actually, you're wrong. I'm the sole owner of my business, and I have other goals other than making profits. All of my employees are paid well, and have a good working environment. That's one of my goals, and I'm doing it. I give quite a bit to local charities, as well. Most companies don't do this, but I do, proving that it's not impossible to have an ethical business AND profitable.
Oh, and very often, a truly ethical business reaps tons and tons of rewards from it. Check out SAS Institute. Huge, privately owned company. They treat their employees like royalty, and as a result, they have the lowest turnover in the entire industry, from what I can tell, and they have enough profit from not having to spend it all in HR that they're debt free.
I've noticed that right now there are a shitload of *very* heavy duty Proliants available (Ebay, ubid, etc.) that are all coming off 5 year leases from dot-com companies with too much money and not enough sense. I got myself a nice Christmas present just recently for an insanely low price.
That's a troll if I've ever seen one. My primary business (not the one in my sig) is pretty fucking ethical. Actually, so's my porn site for that matter. Of course, there are the scads of ethical big businesses like there Whole Foods, SAS Institute, Ben & Jerry's before they were bought out, etc. To say that business and ethics can't coincide is just ignorant.
I'm locked in until I have a good financial reason to move. Moving just to save $400 every couple of years is definitely not worth it. Moving just to say I'm using OSS is a terrible decision. But yeah, I'm "locked in" for now, and that works just fine for us.
I've seen that guy before. No payroll. Not only does it need to have payroll, but it also needs to automagically calculate all of the various taxes.
You're right about migration. In our case, we also couldn't consider migration to something like this unless all of its APIs were compatible with Quickbooks', because we have our POS system that ties in with it, AND we have a custom-written APP that ties in to it, as well. In our case it would take:
- All of the features of the lowest-common denominator: Quickbooks.
- It would have to be cheaper than Quickbooks.
- It would have to be as easy to use if not easier.
You're right. I'm wrong. I'm a bad Slashdotter. Here's my revised post:
GMail has virus protection?!? Wow! That's so innovative! They've done everything else perfectly, and now they've ended email-based viruses! M$ and Yahoo both suck! Google rocks! Thanks, Google!
So what? Yahoo and the other big players have had this for years. That's like announcing that Ford is now selling cars with anti-lock brakes and power steering. That's great and all, but I wouldn't consider that news.
Even more basic than that... there aren't any accounting packages for Linux that have even a fraction of the functionality that the admittedly low-end Quickbooks offers. You're absolutely right. I need good off-the-shelf point of sale software, and all of the Windows versions beat all of the Linux versions hands down. But it's pointless to even look at industry specific apps if a *basic* bookkeeping solution isn't even available, since EVERY business needs to do accounting.
My company has less than 20 people. Why would I pay an annual fee? I buy the software, install it, and it works. End of story. I don't use Office, and I'm not upgrading any OS's any time soon because the system that we have works perfectly. Why should I be embarassed that I have a low cost IT solution that works? I'm pretty proud of my IT budget, actually.
When your greatest competition is making effective and useful products for free, you will have to follow that same route.
Only if the products are perfect replacements for each other. There's really nothing out there that directly competes with Windows. I will, like most of the rest of the modern world, probably continue buying Microsoft products for years because at least OS-wise, there are no real alternatives for us that wouldn't cost us an absolute fortune.
Why does anyone think it is a good idea to partner with Microsoft again?
Because either you partner with them and benefit, or you have a long, hard fight ahead of you. Trying to beat MS at their own game (and yes, it keeps changing) would be like trying to beat Wal-Mart at their own game. Unless your company is in the Fortune 100, it's not really worth trying to go head to head with them. You're going to lose.
My own business actually could compete directly with a very large chain of very large big box stores (not Wal-Mart), but instead of trying to do the whole David and Goliath thing (and ultimately losing), I just stay the hell out of their way and do something different.
How does a company handle a 2-5 year transition to something like Linux, which invariably, has completely new versions released every few months? Seems like Linux, at least at this point, is a constantly moving target that would make a long-term transition very difficult. I remember that Red Hat, for example, released 3 completely different, sequential versions within one calendar year!! Can you even get support for a 5 year old version of Linux?
Why would a company arbitarily cut an annual check to Microsoft? Generally, money is used in exchange for goods and services, and to the best that I can remember, MS has never released OS's more frequently than 3-5 years apart. And even then, those aren't forced upgrades (I've standardized my company on Windows 2000).
Right tool for the right job. For many small companies (mine is around $1 mil/year), an expensive accounting package isn't worth the price. My $400 copy of Quickbooks does everything that I need it to do right now. Do you have a good business reason that I need a mid-range accounting package right now?
Slashdot Mirror
In addition, I don't like the way it was posted... "a Chicago man who was lucky enough to purchase an Xbox 360"... OH PLEASE!!!! "lucky enough" You make out to be some amazing thing... It's JUST a GAME BOX!!! Hello!!!
Tell that to the Apple fanatics. Those people see nothing wrong with spending half their lives wiating in line for each new plastic gadget that Apple makes every few months. "Sure I waited in line for 2 hours! It was OS X version 1.2.5.5! It's MUCH better than 1.2.5.4, and it ONLY cost me $200!"
please, please don't let your friends "program" with Visual Basic. Please?
Why not?
You're talking about something completely different than what this book is about. There are plenty of useful programs in which "maintain, debug, update, install, document, and deploy the application." are all irrelevant. I needed a program to help one of my managers figure out fractional hours on timesheets. I fired up VB and wrote one in less than 5 minutes that let me manager put in hours in lots of different formats, press a button, and it would display the answer. I didn't want or need something that required debugging, maintenance, updates, or even an installation. That's what this book is about. And for what it does, there's little (other than maybe Filemaker Pro) for doing things like that than VB6.
This is a book not about programming, but about getting things done quickly. VB is by far and away, the best programming language/tool I've ever seen to do this. It's simply not necessary to learn the ins and outs of trees, arrays, pointers, etc. if you need a quick and dirty program to get something done. Kinda' like you don't need to know the ins and outs of a modern combustion engine if you just want to change your oil. Personally, I can't count the number of times that I needed to get something done quickly and easily and VB has filled that need.
What the management does is irrelevant. The owners of the companies still get screwed when a company goes under. Corporate owners generally are not protected at all. Did you get compensated for any of the dot-bomb stocks you bought? I don't know anybody that did. At least with a personal bankruptcy, you still have a house, and a means to work.
It's science. Geology, and volcanology are sciences that have existed for centuries before the first circuit board was ever printed. Believe it or not, there are "Nerds" that are quite interested in these topics. Personally, I'm a botany/genetics geek, myself. Computers are boring, in my opinion.
The new rockface, which most likely will fall again, is already being build up by the vulcano.
This should read:
The new rock face, which most likely will fall again, is already being built up by the volcano.
Have the Slashdot editors been replaced with ESL monkeys?
Or perhaps, are there no open source apps with spelling and grammar checking?
Or perhaps, do they just not care because idiots like me will probably continue coming here out of habit, regardless of how bad the writing and editing is?
I shouldn't have to pay an extra premium on my purchases because I refuse to give out my contact information the company.
Actually, it's mroe like you get a discount for selling them information.
At this point in time, I agree. It's 100% impossible. There is NO WAY that a working laptop computer can be produced for under $100. I don't understand why Slashdotters, who probably spend more time shopping for computers than most people, dont' see this. If a $100 laptop was possible, some bottom feeder like Wal-Mart would already be selling it. As is, we have people beating each other up in big box stores all across the nation to get a $400 loss leader laptop. The $100 laptop is complete and total bullshit.
All that being said, let me announce that I will be giving out $5 laptops to the millions of starving children in the world. This $5 laptop will have a 19" screen, a 120 GB SATA hard drive, wireless connectivity, a full keyboard (available in any language) and be durable enough to be able to be run over with a tank, or dropped into mud.
Oh, sorry. $545. Sick, huh?
1. A Business' sole goal is to maximize profit for its shareholders, and nothing else.
Actually, you're wrong. I'm the sole owner of my business, and I have other goals other than making profits. All of my employees are paid well, and have a good working environment. That's one of my goals, and I'm doing it. I give quite a bit to local charities, as well. Most companies don't do this, but I do, proving that it's not impossible to have an ethical business AND profitable.
Oh, and very often, a truly ethical business reaps tons and tons of rewards from it. Check out SAS Institute. Huge, privately owned company. They treat their employees like royalty, and as a result, they have the lowest turnover in the entire industry, from what I can tell, and they have enough profit from not having to spend it all in HR that they're debt free.
I've noticed that right now there are a shitload of *very* heavy duty Proliants available (Ebay, ubid, etc.) that are all coming off 5 year leases from dot-com companies with too much money and not enough sense. I got myself a nice Christmas present just recently for an insanely low price.
Ethics? Business?
Same sentence?
That's a troll if I've ever seen one. My primary business (not the one in my sig) is pretty fucking ethical. Actually, so's my porn site for that matter. Of course, there are the scads of ethical big businesses like there Whole Foods, SAS Institute, Ben & Jerry's before they were bought out, etc. To say that business and ethics can't coincide is just ignorant.
I'm locked in until I have a good financial reason to move. Moving just to save $400 every couple of years is definitely not worth it. Moving just to say I'm using OSS is a terrible decision. But yeah, I'm "locked in" for now, and that works just fine for us.
I've seen that guy before. No payroll. Not only does it need to have payroll, but it also needs to automagically calculate all of the various taxes.
You're right about migration. In our case, we also couldn't consider migration to something like this unless all of its APIs were compatible with Quickbooks', because we have our POS system that ties in with it, AND we have a custom-written APP that ties in to it, as well. In our case it would take:
- All of the features of the lowest-common denominator: Quickbooks.
- It would have to be cheaper than Quickbooks.
- It would have to be as easy to use if not easier.
- It would have to have identical API's.
You're right. I'm wrong. I'm a bad Slashdotter. Here's my revised post:
GMail has virus protection?!? Wow! That's so innovative! They've done everything else perfectly, and now they've ended email-based viruses! M$ and Yahoo both suck! Google rocks! Thanks, Google!
So what? Yahoo and the other big players have had this for years. That's like announcing that Ford is now selling cars with anti-lock brakes and power steering. That's great and all, but I wouldn't consider that news.
Even more basic than that... there aren't any accounting packages for Linux that have even a fraction of the functionality that the admittedly low-end Quickbooks offers. You're absolutely right. I need good off-the-shelf point of sale software, and all of the Windows versions beat all of the Linux versions hands down. But it's pointless to even look at industry specific apps if a *basic* bookkeeping solution isn't even available, since EVERY business needs to do accounting.
My company has less than 20 people. Why would I pay an annual fee? I buy the software, install it, and it works. End of story. I don't use Office, and I'm not upgrading any OS's any time soon because the system that we have works perfectly. Why should I be embarassed that I have a low cost IT solution that works? I'm pretty proud of my IT budget, actually.
When your greatest competition is making effective and useful products for free, you will have to follow that same route.
Only if the products are perfect replacements for each other. There's really nothing out there that directly competes with Windows. I will, like most of the rest of the modern world, probably continue buying Microsoft products for years because at least OS-wise, there are no real alternatives for us that wouldn't cost us an absolute fortune.
Why does anyone think it is a good idea to partner with Microsoft again?
Because either you partner with them and benefit, or you have a long, hard fight ahead of you. Trying to beat MS at their own game (and yes, it keeps changing) would be like trying to beat Wal-Mart at their own game. Unless your company is in the Fortune 100, it's not really worth trying to go head to head with them. You're going to lose.
My own business actually could compete directly with a very large chain of very large big box stores (not Wal-Mart), but instead of trying to do the whole David and Goliath thing (and ultimately losing), I just stay the hell out of their way and do something different.
How does a company handle a 2-5 year transition to something like Linux, which invariably, has completely new versions released every few months? Seems like Linux, at least at this point, is a constantly moving target that would make a long-term transition very difficult. I remember that Red Hat, for example, released 3 completely different, sequential versions within one calendar year!! Can you even get support for a 5 year old version of Linux?
Why would a company arbitarily cut an annual check to Microsoft? Generally, money is used in exchange for goods and services, and to the best that I can remember, MS has never released OS's more frequently than 3-5 years apart. And even then, those aren't forced upgrades (I've standardized my company on Windows 2000).
Right tool for the right job. For many small companies (mine is around $1 mil/year), an expensive accounting package isn't worth the price. My $400 copy of Quickbooks does everything that I need it to do right now. Do you have a good business reason that I need a mid-range accounting package right now?
Were you let go because you installed Linux without permission on company computers, by any chance?